During my first visit back at Centennial Woods this year, I noticed a lot of changes in the landscape and many more signs of wildlife, as animal inhabitants leave their trace in the snow.
The forest was quiet and felt smaller than before. There were no leaves to fill the space, so large expanses of woods were visable from the beginning. Thick snow covered the land, and the once freely flowing stream had frozen over.
I didn’t hear or see many animals, other than one instance of a large flock of birds flying noisily by. However, the presence of animal life in the woods was still clear as many tracks were visable.
The first tracks I noticed, and definitely the most prominent of my hike, were diagonal footprints walking over the frozen stream, as pictured below. The snow over the ice was virtually untouched aside from these tracks.
I also discovered plenty of tracks that appeared to have come from squirrels– small footprints left very close together, leading to and from trees. These tracks showed small animals scurrying around, potentially in search of food or shelter.
